METHODS:

Rats were pretreated with either CoQ (20 mg/kg intramuscular and 10 mg/kg intraperitoneal [CoQ group]) or a vehicle (Control) before the experiment. Isolated perfused rat hearts were subjected to 25 minutes of global normothermic ischemia and 40 minutes of reperfusion. The reperfusion-induced oxidative burst was directly assessed by lucigenin enhanced chemiluminescence. Coronary flow was measured at equilibration and after reperfusion with or without bradykinin, an endothelium-dependent vasodilator, and sodium nitroprusside (SNP), an endothelium-independent vasodilator. The effect of intracoronary infusion of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2 0.1 mumol/gm body weight given over 5 minutes), simulating the free radical burst after I/R, also was evaluated.